Description
The Incurabili complex is an ancient Renaissance hospital in the historic center of Naples, near Via dell'Anticaglia, in the San Lorenzo district. Inside is one of the most beautiful pharmacies in Italy, with wooden shelves and about 400 majolica jars, as well as a museum, a garden of medicinal plants and a church.
A woman paralyzed by illness makes a vow: if she recovers, she will devote herself to the sick whom no one wants to treat. In 1521 Maria Lorenza Longo kept her promise and founded the hospital of Santa Maria del Popolo degli Incurabili.
Since 2010 part of the complex has housed the Museum of the Health Arts, with archive documents, furnishings, silverware, sculptures and medical instruments from the old hospital. The route includes the pharmacy, the church of Santa Maria del Popolo with the Montalto chapel, and the doctors' garden.
The historic pharmacy, entered from the courtyard, is the biggest surprise. It came from the renovation, between 1744 and 1750, of the old sixteenth-century apothecary, paid for with the bequest of one of the governors, Antonio Maggiocca, whose marble bust is there.
It has two rooms. The antechamber, which served as a laboratory, has carved and decorated walnut shelves, with albarelli and ewers painted blue; the great hall keeps about 400 majolica jars, with biblical scenes and allegories, and on the ceiling a canvas by Pietro Bardellino from 1750. The floor is glazed terracotta.
In the garden of simples are the plants that once served for treatments: a camphor tree 35 meters tall, a eucalyptus, a camellia, a yew and several strelitzias. In the courtyard are two historic fountains and the monumental staircases.
The church of Santa Maria del Popolo is a single hall with chapels and Baroque stuccoes. The high altar is in inlaid marble by Dionisio Lazzari; beside it is a Renaissance tomb by Giovanni da Nola, and the canvases are by Battistello Caracciolo, Marco Pino, Francesco De Mura and others.
A small city grew up around the hospital: churches, cloisters, monasteries, even a bank, opened in 1589 to finance its care. During the French decade Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret also worked here with her Daughters of Charity.
Not all the cures were gentle. In the courtyard is the "well of the madmen", where agitated people were lowered to calm them down.
Don't miss
• The historic pharmacy.
• The garden of simples.
• The church of Santa Maria del Popolo.
• The well of the madmen.
Did you know?
• The little church of the Monaca di Legno ("Wooden Nun") owes its name, according to legend, to a nun who tried to escape from the monastery and stayed motionless as a wooden statue.
• In the church of the Riforma, Maria Longo gathered street women to "reform" their lives.
A woman paralyzed by illness makes a vow: if she recovers, she will devote herself to the sick whom no one wants to treat. In 1521 Maria Lorenza Longo kept her promise and founded the hospital of Santa Maria del Popolo degli Incurabili.
Since 2010 part of the complex has housed the Museum of the Health Arts, with archive documents, furnishings, silverware, sculptures and medical instruments from the old hospital. The route includes the pharmacy, the church of Santa Maria del Popolo with the Montalto chapel, and the doctors' garden.
The historic pharmacy, entered from the courtyard, is the biggest surprise. It came from the renovation, between 1744 and 1750, of the old sixteenth-century apothecary, paid for with the bequest of one of the governors, Antonio Maggiocca, whose marble bust is there.
It has two rooms. The antechamber, which served as a laboratory, has carved and decorated walnut shelves, with albarelli and ewers painted blue; the great hall keeps about 400 majolica jars, with biblical scenes and allegories, and on the ceiling a canvas by Pietro Bardellino from 1750. The floor is glazed terracotta.
In the garden of simples are the plants that once served for treatments: a camphor tree 35 meters tall, a eucalyptus, a camellia, a yew and several strelitzias. In the courtyard are two historic fountains and the monumental staircases.
The church of Santa Maria del Popolo is a single hall with chapels and Baroque stuccoes. The high altar is in inlaid marble by Dionisio Lazzari; beside it is a Renaissance tomb by Giovanni da Nola, and the canvases are by Battistello Caracciolo, Marco Pino, Francesco De Mura and others.
A small city grew up around the hospital: churches, cloisters, monasteries, even a bank, opened in 1589 to finance its care. During the French decade Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret also worked here with her Daughters of Charity.
Not all the cures were gentle. In the courtyard is the "well of the madmen", where agitated people were lowered to calm them down.
Don't miss
• The historic pharmacy.
• The garden of simples.
• The church of Santa Maria del Popolo.
• The well of the madmen.
Did you know?
• The little church of the Monaca di Legno ("Wooden Nun") owes its name, according to legend, to a nun who tried to escape from the monastery and stayed motionless as a wooden statue.
• In the church of the Riforma, Maria Longo gathered street women to "reform" their lives.